Meteorite and impact research is of foremost importance at Berlin’s Museum of Natural History. The museum houses Germany’s largest collection of meteorites with more than 6000 specimens. Rocks from 50 impact craters from every continent have been collected during research expeditions.

Scientists employ various methods to examine impact craters: On-site fi eld exploration, microscopic, electron microscopic, and chemical analyses in the laboratory are compared with the results of impact
experiments and mathematical model calculations. This innovative approach has made the Meteorite and Impact Research Group of the Museum of Natural History at Berlin one of the leading research institutes
in the world in the fi eld of impact crater research. The Museum operates an external branch in Nördlingen, the Centre for Ries Crater and Impact Research (ZERIN).

The ZERIN centre is an external branch of the Museum of Natural History of the Humboldt University, Berlin, and is run in co-operation with the City Nördlingen. Archives are kept in the research and documentation building, which document important geological findings. Rock samples, drill cores, and other objects of scientific values from the Nördlinger Ries

and other impact craters are available for scientifi c research. The ZERIN Centre is visited by scientifi c researchers from all over the world. In addition, university seminars and guided tours for interested laymen can also make use of the facility. The ZERIN centre is managed by the custodian of the petrographic (rock) collection of the Natural History Museum in Berlin.